Kerry is meeting Ukrainian leaders in Kyiv today:
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Kyiv, where he is expected to discuss ways of ending Ukraine’s continuing war against Russia-backed separatists in the east of the country.
Kerry’s visit on July 7 comes ahead of a NATO summit in Warsaw that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will also attend in the hope of securing support and assistance.
The deputy head of Poroshenko's administration, Kostyantyn Yeliseyev, was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying he expected the meetings with Kerry to focus on "the issue of global security, regional security, and of course the issue of Ukraine's cooperation with NATO."
Yeliseyev said Ukraine hoped to receive further assistance from the United States and other allies in upgrading its outdated and underfunded armed forces. He said Kyiv also wanted to discuss the peace process between Kyiv and the separatists.
Kerry visited Georgia on July 6 where he underscored Washington’s commitment to supporting the ex-Soviet nation in its long-running standoff with two separatist regions backed by Russia.
The two countries signed a new military cooperation agreement during Kerry visit to Georgia -- his first to the Caucasus nation as secretary of state.
And this:
EU Rejects Changes In Ukraine Association Pact For Dutch Voters
The European Union will not make any changes in its association agreement with Ukraine to address Dutch voters' concerns, but may issue a declaration clarifying that the agreement brings Ukraine no closer to membership, EU diplomats said.
A majority in the Netherlands voted against the Ukraine trade and association agreement in a nonbinding referendum in April, making the Netherlands the only EU member not to ratify the agreement.
Jan Tombinski, head of the EU delegation to Ukraine, told reporters in Kyiv on July 6 that European leaders at a summit late last month told Dutch leaders that they should not propose any change in the association agreement's text that would force other EU members to have to ratify the agreement again.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said at the time he was seeking "legally binding" assurances that the EU would address Dutch voters' concerns.
Rather than change the agreement itself, EU leaders offered to issue a declaration clarifying that the agreement does not bring Ukraine any closer to EU membership, diplomats said.
Rutte was asked to come up with language for such a declaration, and bring it back for consideration at future EU summits, Tombinski and other EU diplomats said.
News from overnight:
Russia Shared Data On MH17 Crash With Visiting Dutch Investigators
The Russian Investigative Committee said it shared its files on the crash of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 with Dutch investigators visiting Moscow, but the Dutch team declined to reciprocate.
Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said committee staff met with representatives of the Dutch national prosecution service on July 6 to discuss their separate inquiries into the Boeing 777's downing over eastern Ukraine two years ago.
Markin said the committee expressed its readiness to cooperate with the Dutch inquiry and provided files from its own investigation of the crash.
But while the Dutch accepted the data Russia provided, he said they declined to take any further assistance and also did not offer to share any data they have gathered.
The Dutch investigators have determined that the plane was shot down by a Russian-made Buk missile, which Ukraine and the West say was fired by Russia-backed separatists but Russia contends could have been fired by Ukrainian forces.
Markin contended that "a bilateral exchange of information would significantly speed up the inquiry," but he said the Dutch have ignored Russian requests for assistance.
The Dutch team left Moscow on July 6 without commenting on its inquiry.
Good morning!
Barring any major developments, that ends the live blogging for today.
Latest from our news desk:
NATO, Russian Ambassadors To Hold Talks Next Week
NATO says it will hold fresh talks with Russia next week, days after a major NATO summit in Poland where Moscow’s actions in Eastern Europe will be a major topic of discussion.
"We have decided together with Russia to hold a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement on July 6.
Stoltenberg said the meeting will take place on July 13 at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, shortly after the NATO summit in Warsaw on July 8-9.
The meeting will involve ambassadors from the 28 member states and Russia.
Stoltenberg said the council "has an important role to play as a forum for dialogue and information exchange, to reduce tensions and to increase predictability."
The NATO-Russia Council held in April its first meeting since June 2014.
Relations between NATO and Russia have reached their lowest point since the Cold War over Moscow’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and its role in the military conflict in eastern Ukraine.